Change of Assignment

On Monday this week, I was working in the warehouse as usual when my department overseer came in and gave me some interesting news.  I was going to be transferred to another department, for at least 2 weeks. What department?  From the electrical warehouse, to....Bookbinding and Library!!  I know!  Turns out the sister that manages those two departments has needed some extra help and so Bethel requested for someone to come for a couple weeks to lend a helping hand.  I had this thought that I might turn into some sort of skilled bookbinder but that's not really the case.  What she really needed help with is organizing her temporary location that she has recently moved to.  This involves sorting books, booklets, magazines, km's and such.  Also the library needs a thorough cleaning and organizing since the move into the new space.  The great thing is though, that there is A/C in those spaces!  (Happy dance.)  My first job has been pretty cool. (And not just because it's air conditioned.)  They are setting up an archive for the Bethel here.  No one has even started doing it before now, and I'm the first one to start setting things aside in a specific place for it.  So I've been sorting through and putting things into a cabinet that will serve for now, although more space will be needed here soon.

I'm getting my hands on some amazing theocratic history and learning about publications from the early 20th century that I had never heard of.  For example, have you ever heard of a man named Rutherford?  I'm sure most of you reading this blog have.  Turns out that in the past, many of the radio lectures and speeches that he (and later Brother Knorr) gave were actually later printed in booklet form and distributed.  I've loved seeing all the booklets and their cover art.  Some are even from the 1920's.

A few of my favorites, based purely on the cover art.

While sorting through things I came across a mail order catalog of the "Rainbow Books" and certain of the lectures that were printed in the 1930's.  I love the description of the booklets:

The way they put things then, so direct!  With the aid of this handy catalog I was able to separate those particular items (most are pictured above) into boxes according to order of the catalog.  My hope is that whoever is responsible for sorting through these things later and putting up displays will understand what is what and the value of these little items.  I couldn't  have ever imagined I would get to do something like this, even for a short time.  It would be so cool to work in an archive and set up displays as they have in New York at headquarters.  Hopefully I'll get to visit there and see those things someday.

I'm really enjoying the break from the heat of my first assignment, the mornings in the warehouse are hot but manageable, it's the afternoons that are difficult for me.  However, "I dey manage it." (Pidgin) That being said, I miss being up there too, and visiting with the different people I usually encountered during the day.  In two weeks we will see if I get to go back or stay with the books.  Either way, there are neat things to learn and do here.

I have some more pictures of the cool stuff I am finding, I'll save them for later, either the blog or in person depending on how much time I have to share.

Archispirostreptus gigas

Say, WHAT?  How do you pronounce that title anyway?  I have no idea.  However, it's appropriate because it's the scientific name of one of the world's largest millipedes.  This bug is so big it qualifies as an animal in my opinion.  So, why the science lesson?  Well, it's because we have a picture to share!

This guy is maybe eight or nine inches long.  Matt's foot is in the picture to give some perspective.  Don't worry all you bug lovers, we didn't squish him.  We let him creep off  down the road unharmed.  According to the internet these bugs can live 5-7 years.  You see, that is the flaw with this whole tropics thing.  Bugs don't die of cold.  (Or snakes, that's the other downside.) The upside is that people aren't cold either.  I'm just not sure that the trade off is worth it. I mean these bugs secrete skin irritants too!  The small ones will make you itch when they crawl on you, imagine what these colossal arthropods would do to my fragile North American skin.  Actually, no, don't imagine it.  UGH.  Anyway, we know our lil pals around the corner at home will like this maxi-bug, so here is another view:

And no, you can't eat this kind of bug, the "irritating liquid" can be "harmful" if introduced to your mucous membranes.  Translation, this African Ginormonstrosity is poison.  I much prefer caterpillars who transform into the most interesting flying bugs ever.  Like this one:

Maybe 4-5 inches wingspan here.

Isn't it cool??  I mean it's probably a girl too with all that pink.  This reminds me of that girly camouflage pattern that is popular back home.  Except lets face it, this is better.  (Travis, I'm thinking this would make an AWESOME pattern for your dipping business.  How cool would it be on a motorcycle???)

Hope you enjoyed the WILDlife photos. :)

So, what's it like to go in service in the village?

I don't know if you remember but I was pretty smug in a previous post about not having any mosquito bites yet. My winning streak ended last Sunday when we went to feed the dumb fish and I recieved 2 bites on my foot. GARGH!!  Word was that the fish eat any mosquitoes that hang out.  Maybe they should stop pigging out on stale bread and step up the insect patrol.  

Some of you may wonder what the ministry is like here.  We only go out Saturday mornings because we work hard at Bethel full-time during the week.  However, when we do go out, it's great.  Our territory gets covered once a week or more.  You might think that we would be overworking it, but that is so not the case.  You can always have some great conversations. People are excited to visit and you can have as many studies as you like. Seriously.  "Weekend warriors" can have as many as 10-12 students.  That's how fantastic it is here. The kids will chase you and say, "study me, study me!"  In our area, many of the bible studies that are conducted are with children.   They come to meeting by themselves even.  We aren't talking teenagers by the way.  Children under 12.  Sometimes the older ones will bring their siblings and they will just sit and listen to meetings.  You would not believe how well behaved these kids are.  Even the tiny ones are so quiet and pay attention.  During Bible Study and Watchtower Study you can barely get a comment in. 

Last time we went out we were able to take some pictures.  This is where we met for field service, with the groups out front:

An older sister is the one that keeps the landscaping up outside of these two homes.  The lawn is the finest blades of grass you ever saw , and the cleanest red dirt makes up the walkways and driveways.

My friend conducted an impromptu study with some village children as we went through the territory.  It was so cute to see these kids smiling and listening to the Bible Story book.  I was able to ask if I could "snap" these kids and they didn't mind, so I got to take this photo.  It is my favorite picture of the day, and maybe our whole visit so far:

Isn't it great? I LOVE this picture!  This is what I looked forward to when I knew we were coming here.

The heat sure takes it out of you though!  After walking for what seemed like hours, I was shocked to realize that it was only ten thirty.  We were halfway through..  After some shade therapy we were ready to finish our morning with return visits and bible studies.  I went on a call with that would prefer an oebo study with him than a local.  So cheeky.  Matt enjoyed going with Fabian on his studies.  

Thats all for this post.  We miss all of you!

A basket case....basket of fruit that is!

When we went on our official tour of the compound here we were told that we would "enjoy many fine fruits in Nigeria."  Well, so far that is very true!  One afternoon we took a walk around the entire perimeter.  We chose the absolute peak heat of the day, you know, in order to sweat the maximum amount.  While we walked we saw lots of different fruit trees.  We thought we'd take some pictures for you to see them too.

We think that these are breadfruit:

We have tons of citrus trees.  Grapefruit, lemons, limes and of course, Oranges!

When we first came we were told we would be able to enjoy Mango Season!  We live across from one of the mango groves:

If you click on the picture you will see that the tree is simply loaded with mangoes!

Our favorite kind of tree here?  The avocado!!

We are permitted to glean a limited amount per person per day. You may not pick them off the trees but you may pick from the ground.  Here is Matt with our avocado harvest!

Seemed such a shame to abandon them to the ants.  Matt is standing on the perimeter road, here is another view:

Some people walk, ride bikes or run around the perimeter road for exercise.  On the other side is just jungle for miles.  There are actually little "farms" carved out of the jungle but they look like jungle to us too!

We also have  a fruit called star fruit here but I haven't tried it yet.  It's hard to find them on the ground and still good, you kinda have to look at one that looks like its close to dropping and give it a kinda handshake, not picking it mind you, but after a friendly greeting or two it might decide to go home with you! At least, that's what they tell me.  And now for a fruit I'd never heard of before:

Recognize this?  No?  Look at the brown shape at the bottom of the fruit.  Hint, it's a familiar nut......Cashew! That's right, Cashew FRUIT!  And the nut at the bottom of each fruit is what costs so much money when we buy them at the store at home.  Here you can get like 3 cups of cashews for around 90 cents.  Not that I'm bragging, but, we get fresh roasted ones at dinner every couple weeks too.  Having looked at the price of organic cashews in the states and almost fainting, (9-10 dollars at the health food store for like 2 cups of unsalted organic cashews, I'm not even joking),  I realize the value of the cashews we get here.  Oh yeah!

We are really enjoying living in the middle of the jungle with such beautiful trees that we can "glean" from.   Nigeria's Branch is absolutely the most beautiful place we have seen for a long time.  It's peaceful and we are loving being able to pick our own fruit.

Rain!

So, I've had a bit of writer's block this week.  If you are going to be kind enough to check our blog I want to make it worth your while and share something worth reading.  I've got a few different ideas percolating in my head for different posts but they are waiting for the correct circumstances to be transformed into actual words.   One thing I thought you might enjoy in the meantime is hearing about the "Rain in Africa."  You may have heard the song?  Some very good friends of ours (you know who you are) introduced us to an acapella version of the song that incorporates sounds that mimic the rain perfectly here.  Ever since I heard the song I have been LONGING to experience the rain in Africa for myself.  I've actually got the song playing now but the sounds of the real African Rain are making it hard to hear! :)

I didn't anticipate such amazing rain so early in our stay here, but the weather is weird here just like it is everywhere and so we are experiencing one rain a week or more!  In the real rainy season it rains much more than that.  It has rained several times this week so far.  I'm so grateful too.  Why?  Well, have I mentioned that its HOT here?   Rain + cooling effect = Happiness!  It's all about the math, really!

Last week on Tuesday was one such heat wave and then:

It's amazing how much more energy you have when it's a little less hot.  Yesterday after the rain I actually felt a cool breeze.  It was fantastic!  I enjoy looking at the clouds before the rain too:

As quickly as it starts, it can stop and it's almost like it never rained, that's how quickly the ground absorbs it!

Hope you enjoyed the "Rain in Africa."  We miss you!

A Bug's Life

This post is especially for our friends that dabble in the field of Entomology.  Especially our 2 little friends who live just around the corner from us back home. You know who you are!  (We miss you boys!)

In Wyoming we enjoy a wide variety of insects.  Correction, some enjoy them.  I personally do NOT like bugs.  I'm sure they have their place, but if they think that place is in my home then they have another thing coming!  I do have a soft spot for lady bugs.  Mosquitoes, we have found, are UNIVERSALLY hated.  In Nigeria we have mosquitoes.  Around here in fact, 1 in 4 is supposed to carry Malaria.  Thankfully, we haven't seen any yet and as far as we know, we haven't received any bites.  As I haven't seen any of these disease transmitters I have no pictures of them to share with you.  If I do see one, there will not be a camera in Nigeria that will be able to decipher what it is after I'm done "seeing" it.

Besides mosquitoes, we have an abundance of ants here.  Teeny fast ants that crawl in your room on your counters and in your closet.  There are big giant ants an inch long:

Eww! 

These guys can inflict quite the nasty bite we have heard.  Thankfully I've just seen the one, and it was outside.  Gigantic Ant is nothing compared to the "acid" ant.  What is an acid ant?  Imagine a bug that if you squash it, emits an acid that will actually eat at your skin.  Sounds graphic but we have been told that people have been disfigured if they get it on their faces and will certainly at least have a scar if they do not care for it properly.  It is bright red and black.  Oh and it flies!  We think we saw one this morning at our table but we double-napkin squashed it and so far so good.

Nigeria is also full of some very interesting looking bugs such as this well dressed Green Leafy Bug (no idea of the real name, just winging it here):

It reminds me of katydids and preying mantis bugs back home.  This guy was several inches long.  Now, what is a bug to do who prefers to hang out on the branch of a tree instead of the leaves?  Well, meet the cleverly disguised Mottled Bark Camo Bug:

He is maybe 3 inches long.

Other than these exotic varieties we have encountered some (thankfully) boring spiders, skinny millipedes and some sort of sand fly/flea that leaves lovely flat red blotches on your extremities that later turn in to hard bumps that itch.  I have a few of those itchy spots right now, just hoping that they are that and not mosquito bites.  I haven't positively identified any tsteste flies by sight, but we think Matt has had a couple bites.   We did see one HUGE sort of fly with legs that extended at least 3 inches out.  Can't think of what to compare it to at the moment. 

As long as you are a responsible bug spray wearer, keep your room clean and patrol for crumbs regularly, you have a good chance of avoiding too many bugs.

Outside, there are lizards in abundance that help with the bug populations.We have seen so many more bugs here than in Myanmar.   I'm chalking it up to living in the jungle as opposed to city plus there are not many geckos either.  There are fish in the standing water ponds that keep the mosquitoes at bay and bats that feast on them at night.

Well, that's all for this creepy crawly post!  

Special Assembly Day-Part 2

We are back with part 2.  It was so nice to be able to see the demonstrations and experiences here in Africa.

This young man is 12 years old and a regular pioneer.  He  has a goal to be in special full-time service when he is old enough.  We really enjoyed his experience.

One thing we appreciate here is that people speak English.  However, we hadn't realized that even though we speak the same language, because of our culture and backgrounds, we can speak the same language but the thought patterns are still different.  It's still quite a foreign way of thinking and everything is still new to us here.

We also love seeing people in their pristine outfits:

One of our beautiful Nigerian sisters from Bethel

I could totally get on board with these headdresses.  Can you IMAGINE how much time I would save on my hair? Never a bad hair day with these colorful headwraps!  It would be so handy to just twist one of these on and go.  PLUS during the day as my hair grows along with the temperature and humidity, you would never see it, the headwrap would come to the rescue.  Every morning as I enter the dining room I sigh, knowing that my frizzy hair is just on display for all to see! :-D  I wear a bandanna to work but its really not the same at all.

We realize most of you are dealing with extreme cold at the moment so I'm sorry to talk about the heat. However, I'm going to talk about it some.  It was difficult to deal with but we had come prepared with lots of water and we made it!  It's amazing how hot it is.  I literally could barely stand to have even my Bible on my lap it was so hot.  Favor fell asleep in the afternoon and was leaning on me and I had to gently adjust her so she wasn't on me.  I felt bad because I love kids but it was a self preservation kind of thing.  I really at a few points kind of wondered if I could make it, but then I reminded myself that there was nowhere else to go that was not hot so I had to stay put.  On the plus side, the humidity means our skin isn't chapped.  My hands look younger and don't crack or hurt.

Something we noticed as we came in was that the street is named Jehovah Witness Road:

If you zoom in on this picture you can see even another church has Jehovahs Witness Road as it's address:)

The Assembly Hall was there first so they got to pick the name!

The ride home was hot but we enjoyed the scenery:

Look, cows!  I know we are from ranching and farming country but even still, these are exotic African cows!

To cool down we went for a swim after we got back.  Later we fell asleep early, the heat really wears you out.

Since our Special Assembly Day in Wyoming will be held while we are here, we were very glad to have the chance to go here.  It was a fantastic day, and we feel privileged to have been able to go to an African assembly that we could understand!